It is never "just a bug"....

Ava with the puke bucket

Our family has been through the ringer the last month with illnesses. First we all got a sinus thing complete with stuffy noses, coughs, fevers, etc. The next week it moved into every one's chest and poor Ace even had to have nebulizer treatments. Then the following week we each took our turn vomiting. Yuck! The week after that-Christmas Eve it started-we got sore throats and swollen sinuses. Goodness! We have certainly had our fill. Currently Ace is still fighting stomach pains and a low grade temperature and Landon and Ava both are coughing all night and congested. I can't wait until everyone is nice and healthy again!

Through all of this, I of course worry about each of my children. I tried to keep them comfortable, hydrated, and fed. Ava, however, always seems to be in the forefront of my mind. When she is sick, it is not just a matter of worrying about these things, but also worrying about whether she will lose weight or not, how quickly her appetite will return, what meds to give her and which to not give her (for example when she is vomiting I don't want to give her any meds that will make her stomach more crampy), and how much this will set her back. This was especially true during this last stretch of illness, as we come closer and closer to having to make a decision regarding a feeding tube. I am on the fence as to whether I am comfortable with the idea or not and knowing that she had several weeks where she didn't gain weight because she was sick and that she may have even lost is just too much to handle. She goes to her pediatrician Monday to have a weight check and I am anxious just thinking about it.

I am very lucky that I have been able to keep Ava at home and out of the hospital during her illnesses, as I know many kids who are small for gestational age, failure to thrive, and/or have Russell Silver Syndrome often end up in the hospital when they have a bug such as the ones that Ava has endured the last month. However, I still constantly worry about how her illnesses are going to impact the decisions that we make regarding a feeding tube and how they impacted her weight over the last month. It takes Ava so long to gain that when we lose time such as this, it really is a big deal.